MARCH 30

IT'S 1am and we've just been woken up by a police helicopter flying round and round with its spotlight on. According to our security guard the coppers were after a couple of blokes who did a runner from the car park in front of the apartments by the beach.

Obviously the first thing I thought of was grabbing the camera and getting some pics. The police managed to nick one of the blokes, but I think the other one legged it.

MARCH 25

BLIMEY. This certainly puts our nicked rug escapade into perspective. One of our neighbours who lives on the third floor had his car stolen from the parking garage this morning. He's put a notice up about it warning the rest of us. If it was the car I'm thinking of then it must have been a crackhead who nicked it as anyone sane would have stayed well away.

MARCH 19

WHAT a fantastic night. We just got back (it's 1.15am) from the Night Owl Rally, held by MOALA, the Mini club I'm in. The object of the run was to follow a route from Torrance through Long Beach, Belmont Shore, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and back to Seal Beach collecting sealed envelopes with poker cards in. At the end of the night the cards were opened and the best hand won half the total entry fees, the rest going to charity. Needless to say we won sod all (even in the raffle) but it was still a great night out.

We almost didn't get to the starting point in Torrance after Ev confused the 110 for the 710 and we ended up pretty much in Pasadena. Luckily we were able to get on the 91 and back to the 110 and still arrive in time. Over 30 new and classic Minis turned up for the event and everything went without a hitch, except for the argument over the water bottle and my not being able to tell my left from my right.

I managed to pick up loads of Mini freebies at the Krispy Kreme donut place in Long Beach. God knows where I'm going to put them, although I think Ev probably has a good idea. Following stops to pick up playing cards at New York Pizza in Seal Beach and Chili's in Huntington Beach we made our way to the final at the Shore House Cafe in Seal Beach where we spectacularly failed to win anything.

Still it was a great night, raising over $450 for charity and giving us an excuse to get out of the house and drive around in a long line of Minis. Sorted.

MARCH 17

THERE'S a person at work I won't name (Ryan) who's constantly taking the mick out of my Mini. It's all in good humour, but when that person drives a Honda Civic then frankly he's just asking for it. So, armed with a roll of masking tape, a camera and with some help from a colleague who shall also remain nameless (Fred) we set out to see if we could turn a Civic into a Cooper.

First of all, a bit of rebranding:

And it wouldn't be a Mini without bonnet stripes:

Now for the roof. We decided on a checkered pattern to match my "fake" Mini:

Not perfect, I know, but it is a fake Mini after all. With hindsight it would have been better to do a Union Flag on the roof, but we can do that next time.

So there you have it - a Honda Civic transformed into a "Mini Cooper" in no time at all. I suppose we could have wrapped the wing mirrors in tape too but by this point we weren't entirely sure we'd got the right car and decided to leg it.

MARCH 12

TRUE to my promise, there's a load of new old postcards up here. Or if you want to start at the beginning of this magical mystery tour, go here.

AND I'd like to thank Emric for knocking my toothbrush into the bathroom sink and then taking a piss on it.

MARCH 11

I DON'T know if anyone's interested, but there's an eclectic set of garden furniture available for free on the hard shoulder of the northbound 710.

MARCH 10

APOLOGIES for the fact I haven't updated this in ages, but between work and a stinking cold I just can't be arsed at the mo. But if Ev lets me spend some money soon I'll put another load of postcards up.

MARCH 3

I spotted this Lamborghini outside work so got a few pics with the mobile phone.

MARCH 2

THANKS go to Jules for sending over this pic he took in Cardiff at Christmas. Good work fella!

AND my Cooper Contacts turned up in the post and have livened up the engine compartment.

MARCH 1

STONE me... today I've been in the States for two years.